The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 04, 1997
Filed:
Apr. 24, 1995
Kenneth R Izzo, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Robert K Lovell, San Jose, CA (US);
Terry K Dallas, San Jose, CA (US);
General Electric Company, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
An unlatching tool which can be used to uncouple and grapple standard handle and extended handle control rods from their associated control rod drives. The unlatching tool is lowered onto the handle of a control rod residing in the reactor core. Due to differences in the shapes of the handles of the standard handle and extended handle control rods, the tool is able to sense the type of control rod present and, through the use of a pneumatically actuated cylinder, position the unlatching mechanism at the appropriate elevation. In particular, a four-way valve, that is actuated by contact with the top corner of the handle of the extended handle control rod and is not contacted by the handle of the standard handle control rod, is used to differentiate between control rod types. The unlatching mechanism is positioned relative to the unlocking handle on the control rod using a pneumatic cylinder activated by the four-way valve. The cylinder has a stroke length equal to the difference in length between the standard handle and extended handle control rods.